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Suit: Police Excessive Force Caused Indiana Woman's Death

FILE PHOTO: DOUG JAGGERS/WFYI

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The estate of an Indianapolis woman who died from a lack of oxygen in 2019 after officers restrained her facedown in a church is suing the city and its police department, alleging that officers caused her death by using excessive force. The federal lawsuit contends that the city and its police department violated Eleanor Northington's Fourth and 14th amendment rights by using excessive force to restrain the 43-year-old mother of three after she experienced a mental health crisis in the church in February 2019. The Indianapolis Star reports the suit contends that Northington suffocated to death after being restrained facedown on shag carpeting in the Mt. Calvary Apostolic Church.